The order is largely arbitrary, but roughly goes from “intrinsic” to “extrinsic” factors. While the terms themselves are rather vague, I find it useful as a framework for considering and comparing various currently-popular languages.

What’s particularly fascinating to me (with my admittedly sketchy knowledge of history) is how most successful languages apparently start out with only 2-3 of these items, but then attract an “early adopter” crowd who provides the others.